While San Marcos did get to give its seniors a proper sendoff last season, playing in the final home game on their schedule, the year was cut short a match due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lady Rattlers returned to San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium on Monday for the first time since March 13, the day before UIL suspended all spring play. The team was victorious in its 2020-21 season opener, dominating San Antonio Brackenridge, 6-0.
“We're super thankful,” head coach Jason Carnley said. “I mean, we got to play every single game last year, except for the very last one. It was a tough way to go out with our seniors, you know, 10 seniors that didn't get the chance to finish the very last home game. That was super tough but we were able to get one in towards the end before all the craziness went down. But we're thankful to be able to play right now, our season's still ready to go. It's still early, so who knows what can happen, but we're just hoping for the best and we're gonna keep practicing like it's game day and game week.”
Senior Isabel Duenez scored within the first two minutes of the match. Junior Soriah Banda led the team with two goals, both coming from more than 30 yards out. Junior Bella Davila found the net on an incoming corner kick. Junior Sara Carrizales followed up a blocked shot to get the ball into the back of the net. And senior Izabella Olivo beat the keeper on a 30-yard breakaway to seal the 6-0 victory.
“It was a great first match,” Carnley said. “We were just much more physical than they were. We just came out ready to go and started hammering it from the very beginning. I kind of expected us to come out there and really, you know, put it in the back of the net. I just didn't realize how quickly it's going to happen. Brackenridge, they came to play. We just came to play harder.”
Carnley thinks it’ll be an interesting year for his squad as the team rosters three freshmen and just four seniors. But San Marcos will essentially have the same offense as last year, which could lead to more high-scoring games like the one that took place on Monday.
San Marcos’ new district includes Austin Westlake and Lake Travis, who the head coach considers some of the best teams in the country. He has an understanding of what the other schools in the league will be like, but won’t know for sure until he sees them in person.
“Austin Bowie's always difficult, we've played them in district in the past,” Carnley said. “Us, Austin Akins and Del Valle are very, very similar, so it's going to be a very similar, tough game. And Austin High is kind of just in between both of them. Obviously, I'm not going to get the chance to go out and watch too many games because of all the spectator rules, so it's gonna be hard to really know what I'm up against until we actually play them.”
The Lady Rattlers hosted Cedar Creek at home on Saturday, the match ending after press time. The team will look to build on its season opener when it hosts Lockhart on Monday, Jan. 4, at 10:30 a.m.
“My expectations are to come out and just get after it,” Carnely said. “I mean, we know that we're young, we know it's gonna be difficult, but if we just come out there with our heads up, we should be fine. But if we started thinking that Lake Travis and Westlake are so awesome, are so great, and that we can't compete, it's going to be difficult for us. So it's gonna be a big mindset game for this young team.”
